Wall Street should tithe bonuses to Haiti, say US Christians

Wall Street fat cats are being called upon to donate a tenth of their bonuses this year to help rebuild Haiti.

The US-based Church World Service is mobilising Americans to sign the CWS Facebook Cause page, tweet about the campaign and use the Internet to spread the campaign message: “Tell corporate CEOs that to whom much is given, much is expected. Please tithe your bonuses to Haiti!”

“More Wall Street bankers and traders this year are expected to receive massive bonuses than last year, despite public outrage over the industry’s seeming impunity to its own role in the economic meltdown,” said CWS executive director and CEO the Rev John L McCullough.

Most of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince was destroyed during the January 12 earthquake that killed more than 100,000 people and left hundreds of thousands more homeless. In the days following the disaster, both Christian and secular leaders called for the cancellation of Haiti’s foreign debt.

Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, was already struggling economically before the quake hit. Many leaders fear that the country will be unable to rebuild if it must also pay its debts.

Former US President Bill Clinton, United Nations special envoy for Haiti, on Thursday appealed to global business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to help the country rebuild. Clinton said the country needs “cash more than anything else” at the moment, but will also need long-term investment.

Likewise, McCullough said Haitians needed help not only to recover from the disaster, but also to build for the first time in their history “a country and a life that reflects and respects their indomitable spirit".

“Consider it a sacrificial offering,” he told Wall Street leaders. “Consider it seed money to jumpstart the reconstruction and development that we hope world leaders will now fully commit to while in Davos this week.”